Selby High Street Heritage Action Zone lecture series

Lucy Jessop from Historic England joined us to explore how looking at buildings and researching their history can contribute to our understanding.

Lucy and her Historic England team are working in Selby to produce a Historic Area Assessment of Finkle Street and Micklegate. Looking at the exteriors and interiors of the buildings, the report will tell the story of these two streets through their history and architecture to enable owners, residents and the council to celebrate and make the most of their historic buildings.

Roger Thomas joined us to explore the Listing of a historic building and the support a community can give to the process.

With Roger we looked into the process of applying to get a building listed is often considered as being daunting task and shrouded in mystery, but this is not the case; using examples of buildings in Selby, Roger Thomas will draw back the veil, to show how the listing process works and the criteria and guidance by which it is governed.

He will also show how public engagement with the historic environment is now seen as a key to improving people’s enjoyment of and valuing the place where they live.

He also asked us the question...

Do you have any knowledge of events that occurred in listed buildings in Selby or even family snaps taken of, in or around a listed building? 

If so, Historic England is encouraging people to add their knowledge and photographs to existing list entries on the National Heritage List for England, using the ‘Enriching the List’ facility.

“Heritage is a broad concept and includes the natural as well as the cultural environment. It encompasses landscapes, historic places, sites and built environments, as well as biodiversity, collections, past and continuing cultural practices, knowledge and living experiences.” Conservation Principles, English Heritage, 2008

Part 1 focussed on outlining what heritage is, what it means and what impact it has when someone is considering undertaking work to a heritage asset.  

Understanding the significance of heritage assets is fundamental to their care and protection. This talk introduced the principles of conservation and how these are both the tangible fabric of buildings and monuments preserved through designations, and the intangible elements of our lives both in the past and in our present experiences.

Watch the lecture: A Beginners Guide to Conservation and Heritage - What is Heritage?

‘’England's planning system has the biggest single influence over the future of the places in which we live, work and play. The objective of the planning system is sustainability: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’’ Historic England

Part 2 focussed on heritage considerations, how we as designers respond to these and the requirements for statutory consultees like Historic England. It looks at local policy and guidance and where you can find further information.

We explored built heritage and what we can see of our history in the physical fabric, and how we can relate this to past lives and experiences and use it to inform the way that we approach building development.

We looked at what this means to you if you are planning to undertake work on a building of significance, and how you can use the heritage understanding to enhance the works proposed.

Watch the lecture: A Beginners Guide to Conservation and Heritage – Responding to Heritage in Design

The First White Cloth Hall is a recently completed restoration and revitalisation project on Kirkgate, the oldest street in Leeds.

The Grade II* listed building was constructed in 1711 and is said to be the catalyst for the growth of the textile industry in the city. Since then it has seen a variety of uses and alterations, before falling into vacancy and dereliction by the early 2000s. Placed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register, by the mid-2010s the building was in real danger of being lost.

Supported by Leeds City Council, Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund (via Townscape Heritage funding), Leeds-based developer Rushbond acquired the building and commissioned its rescue.

Approaching Accessibility in Hard to Reach Structures - Caernarfon Castle Visitor Experience

Caernarfon Castle is an incredibly significant historic building; protected by local, national and international designations, it forms a part of a World Heritage Site, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and a is Grade I listed building.

The project commissioned by Cadw focuses on the King’s Gate as the main entrance into the castle and the overall strategy is to advance the visitor experience and understanding of the King’s Gate by improving the visitor offer, especially those with limited ability to access parts of the castle.

Watch the lecture: Creative Design in Historic Buildings - Caernarfon Castle

View the on site video here.